The regional novel has been remarkably neglected as a subject, despite the enormous number of authors who can be classified as having written regional fiction. This interdisciplinary collection of essays from leading literary critics, historians and cultural geographers, addresses the regional novel in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. It establishes the broader social and political contexts in which these novels emerged, and by combining historical and literary approaches to the subject explores contemporary manifestations of regionalism and nationalism in Britain and Ireland. The Regional Novel In Britain and Ireland, 1800–1990 will be of interest to literary and social historians as well as cultural critics.

"The Regional Novel in Britain and Ireland, 1800-1990 and its forthcoming companion bibliography could be a helpful resource and goad to thought for those wishing to understand cultural affiliation and authority in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain and Ireland in all of their complexity." Stephanie Friedman, Modern Philology

"This book offers no pat answers to questions of regional identity, instead providing an excellent understanding of the questions themselves." Alison Calder, Canadian Literature